legends Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 NOVEMBER 2013 I LIC COURIER I www.queenscourier.com Steinway Transport After conquering the world of music and ascending the pinnacle of New York’s cultural scene with Steinway Hall, the Steinway family turned their interests towards the “high tech” of their age: transportation. The family needed to insure workers and residents in their community could have the best of both worlds, easy access to Manhattan and the advantages of living in a small town like Long Island City. In 1883 William Steinway incorporated the Steinway & Hunter’s Point Railroad Company as a holding company after merging the Long Island City street railways into one entity. During an 1888 trip to Europe, William met Gottlieb Daimler who held patents on the fi rst practical internal combustion engine powered by gasoline. Steinway and Daimler agreed to a partnership, Daimler Motor Company, which would focus its attention on stand-alone engines and motor boat production. Steinway and Daimler built their fi rst shop in 1890 on the east side of Steinway Street between 20th Avenue and 20th Road. In the early 1890s, William, as chair of the New York City subway commission, helped design the city’s future transit network. A series of lines were drawn connecting the Bronx and Brooklyn with Manhattan. William did not neglect his community; lines were drawn to Long Island City and Astoria. In 1892, the Steinway Railway company undertook a large-scale engineering project after William Steinway made the decision to switch from horse power to electricity. Electricity was supplied by a great power plant, built on the East River at 1st Street and 27th Avenue. Suddenly, in quick succession, events turned against him. In a scramble to retrench, the Steinways sold their traction interests to a Philadelphia syndicate in the fall of 1895. The new entity, the New York & Queens Railway, went on to knit the scattered hamlets and villages of Queens together into the borough we recognize today. William died in 1896, a relatively young man in his early 60s. The Steinways promptly liquidated their Daimler interests and stepped back from syndicates formed for transportation projects as the Queensboro Bridge. The Daimler factory was destroyed in a 1907 fi re. LEGENDS OF LIC BY GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LEGENDS OF LIC The late Henry Z. Steinway had an offi ce in Steinway Hall with a fascinating collection on Steinway memorabilia. One item was a map, attached to a prospectus, which outlined plans for a vast New York metropolitan transit system. The Steinways never could raise money for their dream. The plans remained in a fi le cabinet for a century. William’s New York subway network collected its fi rst fare in 1904. The East River tunnel, still called today the “Steinway Tubes,” opened in 1915. Money trusts and rail monopolies were able to command sums of money undreamed by families as wealthy as even the Steinways. One can argue that Long Island City, the Borough of Queens, the City of New York and our metropolitan region developed in the ways that it did because of those dreams the Steinways had while looking out from their hill-top mansion in Astoria. Next: Renaissance Man
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